Trapped
by Just a Happy Wombat
Summary: The Cahills had many enemies. The Cahills defeated many enemies. But what if one of them decided to take revenge? What if he had been planning it since the very start? And what if he was crazy enough to drop the children into the middle of an ill game? Amy and her friends are helpless trying to escape before the timer goes off. What's more it's up to Sinead and Jonah to save them.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi Everyone!  
**

 **This is a story I came up with about thousand years ago - which can be translated to: sometime in autumn. It was mainly inspired by the Hunger Games trilogy, which I think you will realize some chapters later.  
There may be ships apart from the mentioned Jonead appearing in it, however, I can't tell you about them for the sake of the surprise. ^.^  
**

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own the 39 Clues.**_

 **So, let's start:**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _Location: Cahill Command Center, USA_

 _"Ugh... If you knew how much I hate you... Why can't you just... fit like the others?"_ Sinead Starling muttered angrily. _" I... I am doing my best, I... I sacrificed everything, but... you... you're ruining it a- ...Finally!"_

She rose triumphantly the cable she had been begging to. Even if it took her 4 days, 21 hours, 5 minutes and 32 seconds, she found the mistake in her plans and corrected it by connecting the wires in the right way. Her invention got ready and - if everything went as planned - her Nobel-prize did so, too.

"Now, all I have to do is activating the capsules." She leaned closer to the device to push the "on" button. "Time for the truth!"

Her fingers got closer... and closer... and...

"Hiyaaaa!"

Without any warning, Dan Cahill kicked the door open and flew into the room in a ninja-kick pose, falling right onto the promising gadget, pulling out all the cables as he landed on them. Before Sinead could have said anything or just had a heart-attack, he jumped up and smirked.

"The ninja is saving you from the man-eating room!" He yelled triumphantly.

"The... wha-?"

"You haven't given a sign of life for 4 days, so we decided to go in..." Amy stepped inside. "So, are you ok?"

Sinead didn't speak, just kept gaping.

"She must have-" Amy started, then saw the cables ripped apart. "Oh, Dan! Sinead, I'm terribly sorry, it was-"

"I'll correct it." The Starling muttered monotonously, peering at the floor to fight back her anger. "Just don't... under no circumstances appear like that again!"

"All right, sorry!" Amy and Dan said in synchronously. "Shall we-?"

"No, I'll be fine!" Sinead interrupted, losing her patience. Fortunately the siblings understood it and left.

"What a pity, it was my best kick ever and it had to end that way..." She heard Dan talk to Amy on their way and let out a sigh. She had to admit that sometimes she wished her cousins disappeared for a day... or two. It wasn't that she didn't love them, but sometimes, to put it mildly, they got on her nerves. And inventions had always been the sensitive points of the Ekats after all.

She sat on her chair to restart her work, not knowing that her wish would once come true. _Once really soon..._

.-.-.

 _Location: Unknown_

"Is the arena ready?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"The traps?"

"They are right where they have to be."

"Wonderful. Now, only my _little puppets_ are missing." Came an evil laugh from under the ground.

.-.-.

 _Location: New York, USA  
_

Hamilton Holt was stiff scared. He had faced so many enemies before, he had rushed with bullets swooshing inches away from his head, he had fought Tomas serum enchanted guys, stopped disasters and passed all his maths tests. But there was something none of the above could make him ready of. _Jonah's fangirls. The apocalypse was about to come._

A girl with a _'Wizard took me under his spell!'_ T-shirt : she was the start of everything.

While Jonah was singing, that crazy chick somehow sneaked up to the stage and it was only Hamilton's self sacrifice that saved his friend from being hugged to death. Before she could have threw herself at the star, Hammer jolted to her and grabbed her wrist, which made her stop and scratch him with the long, sharp nails of her free hand.

 _Ugh, Jonah, you'll owe me a lot for this!_ He held back a yell of pain to avoid disturbing the performance, then caught the girl's other arm and crossing it behind her back, he led the furious maniac to his bodyguard colleague to take care of her and went back to his place. As he landed on his VIP seat next to Broderick Wizard, Jonah's father peeked up from his phone and nodded thankfully to him, then he returned to his daily routine: button-pressing.

The reflectors were moving with a crazy agility as Jonah danced and sang with his fans on the concert. With the pulsing lights blinding him, Ham tried to fix his attention on the surroundings of the stage to prevent any other attacks, but the more the small scar on his arm hurt, the weaker his concentration became - so much, that in the end, he found himself staring at the red line the girl's claws had drawn on his skin. From what he could see from the shadows racing up and down, the wound was surprisingly deep.

 _What kind of manicure did that freak have?_ Hammer wondered.

To stop the bleeding, he put a tissue or two on it, pressing it to the injured surface. As he touched it, the sound of his heartbeat fastened and got louder and louder, so that he couldn't hear anything, but the throbs.

 _Huh?_ He groaned and rose his seven fingers from the- _Wait, seven fingers? Oh, no, this is a really evil trick, I am not that stupid! Even a Tomas knows that-_

He rose his gaze to realize that he had double vision. He tightened his grip on the side of his seat, but it felt like that it was moving backwards with him, right behind the curtains of the VIP door.

"Mr. Wizard!" He cried for help, but everything got too distant... _Too irrational._

The only realistic thing he percepted was the two firm hands that appeared on his broad shoulders.

"So, what do you think will happen to you, my dear friend?" Came a silky voice that sounded somehow familiar to him.

"I'll faint like Nancy when Madison's football _found_ her head?" Hammer guessed.

"Oh, yes, good boy!" The person from the behind pushed a syringe into him. "Sleep well, tomorrow you will have a great day! _A fatally great one..._ "

.-.-.

 _After the show  
_

"Hamilton?!"

"Hammer?!"

"Buddy?!"

"Ham?!"

Jonah raced up and down the stage to find the boy, but no answer came. The people he asked said that they hadn't seen him either.

"Oh, c'mon, he can't have turned into dust!" Jonah frowned, then ran back to the VIP section. There, his father was still on his chair, buried in the world of his phone messages.

"Pops, have you-" Jonah turned to him, but no reply came, which - knowing the man - could have been considered normal, but that time he had a strange feeling racing in the form of a cold wave down his spine.

He poked his father. _Still no reaction._

"Dad?" Jonah stuttered, shaking him softly. To his relief, letting out a big yawn, Broderick got awake. Massaging his neck, which was aching from the bad position it had been kept in for a while, he glanced up at his son, then realized what had happened.

"I... I can't imagine... I'd fallen asleep..." He muttered. "But I never do so... I..."

"It's ok. Anyway, I knew that I had to renew some of my boring songs..." Jonah sighed. "But getting back to the point, have you seen Hamilton? He isn't in his room or else..."

Broderick eyes widened. "The last time I saw him, he was fighting that girl that wanted to catch you on the stage. Then he sat next to me and... I am sorry, all the other events are a blur."

Jonah nodded, then his gaze wandered to the man's neck, then to the red dot on it.

"What's that?" He asked and leaned closer to him.

It was similar to a mosquito sting, but no lump had grown there. Like a mark a syringe needle leaves behind.

"Strange..." Jonah mumbled under his breath. "Dad, please go immediately to my personal doctor for some examination!"

Persuading Broderick wasn't an easy ride, but in the end, he succeeded. Then, he took out the phone he'd found in Hamilton's empty room from his pocket.

 _"The Command Center isn't too far. Maybe Ham went away to check them out."_

 _Beep, beep._

No answer. Not for the sixth time.

 _"Just don't say that all the Cahills except for me died out! Maybe I should-"_

"Mr. Wizard!" One of his staff members interrupted his thoughts. "Mr. Wizard, the interview with the Music TV had to be delayed by a day."

Jonah thanked for the information. "So a day. Right. That's enough time for a _fast inquiry_ \- the big guy is my responsibility after all." He turned to his assistant. "I gotta go somewhere, call my driver!"

.-.-.

 _Location: Cahill Command Center, USA_

Thanks to his talented chauffeur, Jonah had arrived in front of the door of the Command Center in less then 3 hours. Pressing the button of the bell, he could imagine the tired face of his cousins and the joy they would feel for being disturbed at 4 in the morning or 5 - he had totally lost his time sense because of the lack of sleep. And then he still forgot to add the fact that he was about to state that Hamilton faded away.

However, neither Amy nor Dan or anyone inside opened the door.

 _"Well, if Dan is having a nap, not even a nuclear explosion is able to wake him up... But Amy!?"_

Having waited for half an hour, failing to contact anyone, Jonah decided to break in. He took a deep breath of the fresh morning air and with all the lock picking knowledge he had - and was terribly proud of - he launched into working, just to be disappointed by the fact the door hadn't even been closed.

"Now, that's even stranger!" He entered the house. "Boo! Dan! Ames!"

 _"Too much silence..."_

He turned on the lights, but nothing happened, so he walked up the stairs in total darkness to the bedrooms. They was no soul in them. He opened the wardrobe and found all the baggage inside.

 _"They conceivably didn't go for a vacation. Then why aren't they here?"_

He made his way back to the hall, searching for any signs of kidnappers, but he found nothing, except for a big spider and a box of ice cream.

And then he heard it. A harsh scream came from the basement. Following the sound, he sneaked down to the source of it and stopped at a huge wooden door. It might have been broken out of its frame at least once and there was eerie light coming from under it.

 _"There's someone... being tortured..."_ Jonah gasped. _"I must save her!"_

With all the bravery he had, he kicked the door open and jumped into action.

.-.-.

"I did it! I did it! Yeeeesssss!" Sinead Starling cried, hopping up and down from happiness. It took her a day to fix what Dan had ruined, but all the efforts were worth it. Or at least that was what she thought before the history repeated itself or to be more specific, another idiot - that gangsta guy this time - felt the irresistible need to do the same as Dan did and make her poor life miserable. The only difference between the two actions was that while Dan landed on the cables, Jonah had found a better target: her.

"Ouch! You're insane!" Jonah Wizard heard the girl groan under him. "Are you intending to kill me?"

"I..." Jonah's jaw slacked as he recognized her. "I thought you were..."

"I was what?" Sinead fumed. Then, she noticed her invention _or the thing left of it._ "Oh, no!"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't gonna..." Jonah saw the sadness and desperation in her eyes and put his hand on her shoulder to comfort the girl. "You know, I'm not a pro of this Ekat stuff... But I bet you are and that you'll fix it fast so it... it will work again... Because nothing is a prob for someone like you..."

 _"Nice speach, bro, the chick won't kill you after all."_ He complimented himself in thought, but the tomato coloured face of Sinead tore him down.

" _No prob? No prob?_ Idiot, I've been working on this for an eternity and... and you just come here, make it the equal of a hill of waste and say that it's no prob?" Only the black creature swooshing between her legs saved Jonah from a lethal slap.

"Hey, have you seen it?"

Their gaze circled around the lab in the pale light.

"It went away." Sinead declared, then returned to Jonah. "Getting back to you..."

"Wait, yo!" Jonah backed, _right onto something..._

 _Mrrrppp!_ Saladin looked at him indignantly. The message in his eyes were unmistakable: 'O _ne more step on my tail and you've sealed your own doom!'_

"Oh, sorry." Jonah muttered. He'd unintentionally made Sinead and a cat hate him the same day. That must have been a record or so!

"See, you are more destructive than a mixture of..." Jonah became lost at the next part of Sinead's sentence as some long-named compounds came, but he didn't dare asking her to repeat. "Anyway, why are you here?"

"Oh, yes..." Jonah got back from the daze of the pas few minutes. "I can't find Hamilton. So I came here to ask for help, but... Amy and Dan..."

Sinead rose an eyebrow.

"When was the last time you talked to them?" Jonah asked.

"This afternoon..."

"And after that? Haven't they told you anything about leaving for a while... or couldn't you hear any unusual noises... or... "

"I had been sitting down here, working." Sinead frowned. "And by the way, why- ?"

"When I came in, the door was open, this is how I got inside. I seeked everywhere, but excluding us, the whole house is empty." Jonah explained.

"No way!" Sinead bolted up to the control room of the CCC. It was where she could see the views of all the hidden cameras. She examined each computer screen one by one, but Jonah turned out to be right.

"Maybe they recorded something..." Jonah suggested, but she kept shaking her head rapidly.

"Something is wrong... I can't find the reports of the last 7 hours..." Sinead clicked on an icon. "It says that they were deleted."

That was when their gazes met. It had happened before. The kidnappings, then the blackmail... _That time, it had taken the life of at least 5 people they loved._

"Ned... Ted..." Sinead muttered anxiously.

"They won't get hurt... no one will!" Jonah tried to assure both of them. "We'll stop whoever it is and..."

The beeping of the monitor interrupted him.

"What are you doing?" He asked hopefully.

"Me... nothing..." Sinead gasped. "But... someone is hacking us!"

Jonah saw nothing but the white arrow of the mouse flashing up and down. Although he was aware of that Sinead wasn't really a - as Pony called it - a cowboy, but he trusted her skills. _  
_

 _"Come on, girl!"_

Sinead was fighting hard for control. _However, she lost._

"No!" She pushed her head to the desk.

The screen turned black, the mouse disappeared and a horrific message turned up in the middle with the background of a nice forest.

 _The end is near._

( _For further information: ask the ancestors.)_

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! :D**

 **Anyway, before I forget to say: I'm planning this to have longer chapters, so the updates, if I continue the story, will be a bit rarer...  
Also, it can happen that you'll have the chance to read about some chars that were offically... erm not so alive... xD  
But enough for spoilers today! ;)  
**

 **See you later!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi Everyone!**

 **I would like to say a big, big, big thank you for the reviews, they made me enthusiastic to write more. :)  
And now, here is the result, I hope you will enjoy it: **

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Yo, gurl, wait!" Jonah was gripping Sinead's wrist to stop her, but he ended up being pulled behind like his assistant when he wanted to take a dog which was at least twice bigger than him (plus overwhelmingly stubborn) for walk. And then he had to add the fact that he was wearing a hat and sunglasses as disguise, which wanted to fall off his head one-by-one, so that he had to keep catching them with his free hand.

"Lemme call my driver at least, cars are quicker..." Ok, in real, he wasn't sure about that: the girl was going so fast that the asphalt of the pavement was smoking under her feet.

"No. In this traffic jam, it would take an eternity to get to the Ancestors." Sinead barked back to him. She became like this after the phoning her brothers. No one answered the call and it made her think that they had been kidnapped too. While she was trying to get in touch with Ned and Ted, Jonah did his best to inform their other cousins such as Ian and the Holts, but the only one he could reach was Madison, who told him that Reagan had also gone missing.

"Chill out, I don't even know what that ancestor stuff really is!" Jonah groaned.

"I've already told you." Sinead let out a sigh. "It's a-"

"A _thing_ the Ekats are using to do that _thingy_ with the chemical _blah blah thing_ with that long named _thi-_ " Jonah joked, speaking in _Hamilton-style_.

"One more _'thing'_ and I swear I'll..." Sinead huffed, then let out a sigh. Although the street was noisy and she was showing her back to him, Jonah was sure that he heard something like _'Idiot.'_.

After five minutes of running silently, they finally had the chance to take a peek of one of the most state-of-the-art buildings on Earth. The four, about 50-storey towers were covered by dark glass that reflected the sunshine. Wide, white and black bridges connected them, making an impression of the whole as the _Palace of Science_. Or at least, that was how Sinead had mentioned it.

"The Ekat headquarters - otherwise called as the Ancestors." Sinead smiled as she noticed the interest on Jonah's face. "Each tower stands for one of the first Cahills, that's where the name comes from. However, for unknown reasons, the fifth has never been built..."

Jonah watched the people walking around the skyscrapers, then frowned. "Certainly? I mean, do you think this is really what that message is referring to?"

Sinead stopped. "I can't say it for sure, but... I can feel it with my instincts that there is something we need in there. And with a little luck-"

"Luck? Really? I thought you were that rational person who doesn't believe in anything like that." Jonah smirked.

"That's true, I don't. But that doesn't mean I can't hope."

-.-.-

"Ok, so this is the heart of the Ekat network in this continent." Sinead murmured in front of the wide entrance. "It's extremely hard to get in and if they find us at least slightly suspicious, we'll be kicked out faster than you can imagine."

 _Well, that's a good start then. I'm a Janus, walking into the middle of an Ekat command center... Not suspicious by far!_ Jonah decided not to share his thoughts with Sinead, so he only nodded a bit, then followed her into the building.  
Suddenly, at the threshold the Starling girl stopped again as if she forgot to add any other _encouraging_ details.

"One more thing." She sighed. "Don't say a word. Let me talk instead."

"Word." He nodded, getting a frown from Sinead.

"Word means ok." He explained, then laughed at the girl's expression.

Entering the tower complex, Jonah started to feel dizzy by all their surroundings. Thanks to his star career, he got used to luxury or exotically structured sites, but the inside of the tower got even him speechless. However, he didn't have too much time to take pleasure in the sight, because Sinead caught him and made her way confidently to the reception on the left.

"Yes?" The woman behind the desk looked up from her papers strictly when they arrived. Her brown hair was in a huge bun and she was wearing round glasses with a transparent frame, so that its two, thin lenses seemed to be levitating in the air. All in all, she reminded Jonah of a cyborg owl.

"We... um... we are here to see... Mr. Parker." Sinead said. She was satisfied with herself for remembering the name. Mr. Parker was the leader of the EOS (Ekaterina Observational Sector) and what's more, a close friend of her parents.

"Do you have an appointment?" Owl asked monotonously.

"Y-yes, we do, of course." Sinead lied. _Just let us go!_

"That's interesting," The woman frowned with mistrust. "because Mr. Parker left an hour ago for a business meeting."

 _Ugh, trap... Ms. Bossy is losing it..._ Jonah thought.

"Oh, that must be a misunderstanding." The girl tried to persuade her, unsuccessfully. That was when the imaginary lock on Jonah's mouth broke. He leaned closer to the desk, paying extra attention to avoid being recognized.

" _A1_ list." He murmured to the receptionist as if he was disclosing some super secret information, earning a dagger-throwing gaze from Sinead.

To the red-haired girl's surprise, Owl nodded briefly and peeked at her watch. "If everything goes as planned, the conference will end in 42 minutes. You can take a seat and wait for him to return in his office... And I am terribly sorry if I hurt you by being so accusative... there are so many people running around and we can never tell if-"

"It's ok, and thanks!" Jonah responded, then sent a _'See and learn from the master!'_ glance to the Starling.

Sinead gaped with the mixture of disbelief and relief as the woman waved to her colleague to guide them to a waiting room of Mr. Parker's office.

"A1 list, really? What's that, some kind of VIP invitation?" She whispered angrily when only Jonah could hear it, causing half smile on his face.

"Honesty?" The boy laughed. "I don't know. I saw it in a film and thought it could sound convincing."

Peeking back to the receptionist, Sinead had a hard time holding back a put down, but the grief expression of the guard who was told to lead them up helped her a lot.

"Come!" The man yelled like a corporal with annoyance and took them to an elevator nearby. There, he pressed button 50 and the three of them began their trip upwards.

Waiting to arrive, Jonah glanced down. All the walls of the elevator were made of glass, so that he could see not only the people, but also the whole main hall under himself. It was even more amazing from the above. The lines he had previously noticed on the floor when entering formed a dragon shape - the Ekat crest. In the middle, at the eye of the figure there was a 5 meter high fountain, which worked with strange, blue electric lights instead of water. It wasn't just the revolution of technology. It was pure art. And who if not him, a Janus could have appreciated it the most?

"Yo, how many floors are there in total?" He abruptly asked.

"56." The proud reply came.

"Cool... Anyway, how come there aren't five of the towers..." Jonah continued to chat. _  
_

Sinead rolled her eyes. _We've already talked about that..._

 _Look at him... He must have been working here for a thousand years. If there is someone who had heard about it, then it's him!_ Jonah told her telepathically.

"Well, it's just a gossip, but..." Somehow the Wiz managed to win the man's trust. "When the towers were being built, a mysterious explosion destroyed the half-ready fifth one in the middle and every time we wanted to fix the damaged parts, it occurred again and again. Then, when we got to the point where we had 4 ready ones and a totally ruined piece, the leader - I think it was Bae Oh that time - decided to leave it that way."

"Oh..."

Suddenly the elevator stopped and a pleasant female voice announced that they are on floor 50. The guard said goodbye, but before he returned to the reception's level, he told them the way to the office.

"Mysterious explosions, huh?" Jonah murmured to Sinead when they were alone again.

The girl nodded. "And they just left it alone... strange. That's not like Ekats... and not like Bae..."

"Well, ya know," Jonah put his hands into his pocket. "That woman down there said that we had about 40 mins till that guy came, which is..."

"...Enough to check such a place out." Sinead nodded, agreeing with him maybe the first time in her life.

* * *

 _"Aaargh!"  
_

Amy Cahill was trying to be an optimist, but after waking up with a splitting pain in her forehead in the middle of nothing, this intention of hers started to fade away.

"What happened?" She muttered under her breath, massaging the aching point. The last thing she could remember from the day before was the unexpected hit that totally knocked her out. She was sitting in her room in the company of a book when the assault happened and she was sent unconscious before she could have seen the face of the backstabber. After all, the girl could only hope that Dan didn't get hurt.

However, even without her brother, Amy had more than enough problems to solve.

Getting awake, she wasn't in the Command Center, but in a valley with big, colorful wild flowers. The strangely round-shaped clearing was framed by a forest and sometimes if she watched carefully, she could notice something moving between the trees. _But how did she get there?_

Amy sat up and leaned with her back to the cold stone behind her. Moving was the first thing that made her realize that the pants she was wearing got wet by the dewy grass. And that was when the next oddness came: she didn't have her own clothes on, but something like a uniform, which consisted of black trainers, jeans, a combat T-shirt and a not too thick waterproof jacket with a bright red '7' on it, plus its hood on her head.  
On her left stood a rough backpack, also of a dark colour. With her eyes widening - if that was possible- even more, she grabbed the strap and pulled it closer. Opening the bag, the first thing her fingers ran into was a yellowish paper with slightly burned sides. She unfolded it and began to read with disbelief.

...

 _Dear Amy - or should I call you Competitor No.7?_

 _If you are reading this letter, that means that you have arrived to the Arena, Sector 1. Welcome!_  
 _While you were sleeping, my assistants brought you and some of your friends here for an amazing game._

 _The rules are simple: Kill or get killed. The last one standing will survive.  
To make it more exciting, three teams of Hunters were sent after you, so please be extremely careful to stay alive for longer and keep the show going!_

 _So now, let the game begin!_

 _Best wishes,_

 _The Puppeteer_

 _PS.: This letter may be sending some ultra-wave signals to your enemies, so if I were you, I'd start running as fast as I can._

...

Amy had to read the letter over and over again to comprehend it.

 _A game... my friends... only one to survive... Hunters... the Puppeteer  
_

"That means no good!" She told herself. Anxiety was getting over her. "What if Dan... what if he also got in here? What if he is being chased by those Hunters?"

 _"Please, don't do it! Help!"_

The whispering winds from the forest were bringing the loud cry to her.

"Dan?"

 _"Somebody help!"_

 _"Help!"_

She had to hear it twice or more to realize that it was not just her imagination playing with her. The girl dropped the paper.

"Dan!" She yelled desperately and bolted towards the source of the voice, leaving everything behind. "I'm coming!"

Amy rushed into the forest, forgetting about the danger and the pain that that grew from step to step in her limbs. _Protecting him._ That was all she cared for.

 _"Help!"_

 _"Help!"_

She could still hear the shouting, but it got more and more quiet.

"Dan, I'm here!" She answered desperately, but her legs slipped and she fell.

Amy landed on her hands, splashing muddy water into her face. The sounds died out and she found herself lying in the middle of the forest, having no idea where exactly she was or came from.

"No!"

As the level of adrenaline shrunk in her body, the ache in her legs came back with full power. She peeked down to see the scratches caused by the thorny bushes she had run past bleeding. Her arms could have looked the same way, but luckily her rough jacket was harder to get teared into pieces.

"Dan!" She called him, but only the singing of the birds came as an answer. She checked her surroundings. There was no sign of her brother or anyone else.

Amy let out a sad sigh. _Maybe it was my fantasy after all._

Then, she noticed a shaking shade on the ground, coming from behind a tree.

"Who is there?"

No answer came, but the shrugging of the shadow got even intense. Amy walked closer. She was about an inch away from seeing the person standing there, when someone jumped to her throat.  
Amy fought back as fast as she could and with a perfectly performed kick, she tossed the masked stranger away, making her clash to the tree her ally was hiding behind. Amy put her arm to her neck and pushed the woman's head backwards, trapping her between herself and the tree trunk.

"Kiddo?" The stranger asked when Amy's face came visible for her, making the girl's eyes widen in disbelief. _There was only one person using that phrase._

"Nellie?" The girl gaped and let down her hand. "Is that really you?"

"Nice move... And sorry for the attack, but I couldn't recognize you in that hood." Nellie Gomez smiled, then turned back to the tree. " Seems we aren't the only ones with Natalie stuck in here..."

"Natalie?" Amy shook her head. "But that is-"

"Impossible?" The one the shadow belonged to slowly staggered to the daylight. Despite the circumstances, Natalie Kabra could still keep her elegance - even with the dark circles under her eyes and the scars all over her body. When she noticed that Amy couldn't help staring at her injuries, a pale smile appeared on her face. "Don't peer at me this way Cahill, you don't look better either!"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! :D  
**

 **By the way, here's the sentence for the fans of spoilers/hints: Natalie is just the start.** **^.^**

 **So, that's it for now, bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi Everyone!**

 **Well, as you can see, wonders happen - I could finally finish this chappy (Yahoo!).  
Sorry for making you wait so much. But now I'm done and as a compensation, this chappy is longer than the ones before. ^.^  
Anyway the summer holidays started, so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently. :)  
**

 **So, back to the point, here we go:**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Nellie walked towards the barks of the trees to find the hardly visible signs on them.

"I put some mud there to remember the way back to our shelter." She explained. "It's a cave that leads into a mountain... Oh, I found the track, come!"

Amy hesitated for a second, then followed her. While they had to pay maximum attention not to be caught off guard by any attackers hiding in the shadows, the pleasant odor of the linden trees had a calming effect on all of them. Especially on Amy, who was taking deep breaths to inhale as much of the fragrance as she could. It reminded her of Grace's mansion and the picnics she and her brother had spent there with their grandmother under such trees' greenery.  
Her behaviour made Natalie frown.

"You are sniffing like a dog."

Amy ignored the remark, but stopped smelling the air and started to play with the knit braid cord of her jacket instead.  
Meanwhile Nellie crouched next to a berry bush, harvesting some fruit.

"Look! Come kiddos, help me!"

"Are you sure it isn't poisonous?" Natalie asked.

"Oh course it isn't! This is" Nellie rose a piece of fruit so that the others could examine it too. "blackberry. Edible, see?"

To show how harmless the berries were, she threw a handful of them into her mouth.

"You're insane!" Natalie's eyes widened.

"No, I just worked a lot with these fruits and learned to distinguish them from the toxic ones. Madrigal training plus cooking..."

 _I haven't heard about any kind of Madrigal training like that... I wonder what more she has been taught there._ Amy thought. _But right now it doesn't matter... Does it?_  
She felt as if the skin under her eyes started to burn when the text of the Puppeteer's letter flashed up in her mind. ' _The last one standing will survive.' That means unambiguously only one person. This way...  
Oh, stop it, you won't just go and fight against anyone you love! How could you even think about that? _She scolded herself angrily and continued staggering after the others.

On the long way to the cave, Natalie told them about the story of her survival, the strange men in black suits and dark sunglasses who carried her away before the doomsday device exploded.

"I don't have the sightliest idea how I could make out alive from the electroshock or who those people were." She explained. The memory seemingly sent her whole body shivering. "I could catch some fragments of their conversation, but the rest is a blur. When I woke up, I found myself on a bed, surrounded by medical machines I've never seen or heard of before. It felt as if I was in a hospital, but I couldn't examine it, because someone came from the behind and pushed a syringe into my arm. The-"

When the harsh sound of a horn rushed into their ears, Natalie fell still and Nellie put her index finger before her mouth to warn Amy not to even whisper.

 _What's that?_ _What does it mean?_ Amy gaped to her, but Nellie just waved to them to follow her quietly. With their hearts in their mouths, the three Cahills kept racing faster through the forest _._

 _What if the Hunters...?_

To everyone's relief, as they ran the eerie sound became less and less loud, which meant that they weren't being chased, however they only stopped when it totally died out.

"Whoever was there had no fear of being attacked..." Nellie groaned finally, out of breath. "Now, let's get back to the shelter before we meet someone unpleasant."

.-.-.

When Nellie announced that they'd arrived, Amy could hardly believe it. If it wasn't for Natalie, who pointed to the shelter's direction, she couldn't have noticed it. The cave was surrounded by proliferating shrubs, which grew over the rocks of the mountain to form a thorny, impenetrable curtain that both protected and covered the entrance of the cave the same time from any intruders. What was invisible from the outside was the narrow path between the leaves on which they could sneak inside. According to Nellie the 'special fence' might have been molded by nature, still it looked suspiciously human-made.

"You know, Ian would use the phrase 'Little room, but ugly'," Natalie scoffed. "but this..."

"Be happy that you don't have to sleep out in the woods. This place is perfectly hidden, so we are relatively safe in here." Nellie pointed out. "Oh, only if I had my phone and songs in here..."

"We are here in the middle of nothing and the first thing that matters to you the most is your music? Oh, I cannot imagine how I could have survived a single hour near you!" Natalie let out a sigh. "Look at our clothes! They're all a catastrophe! It must be 100 percent polyester, what's more, they are the same!"

 _Typical Nat._ Nellie and Amy exchanged a glance.

"Hey, what are you smirking at?" The girl rose her eyebrow in the infamous Kabra way, which sent the two others giggling.

"Oh, nothing..." Nellie wiped a tear of joy off her eyes. Amy smiled, but as she remembered the thing that bothered her mostly, she couldn't keep it in anymore. Her face turned serious and concerned.

"I have to ask you if you've met Dan. I was following his voice when we met." She spoke anxiously, earning puzzled expressions from her friends.

"That's interesting, I heard nothing." Natalie frowned, then glimpsed questioningly at Nellie.

"Neither did I... " Nellie stated sadly. "Sorry kiddo, but you are the first one we've met in here."

"But don't worry, maybe the fact that we haven't run into him means that he is at home." She added fast as she saw the plain hope fade away from Amy's eyes. She put her hand on her shoulder to comfort the girl. "Wait, here is something, it helps!"

Amy's eyes widened as Nellie handed her a sandwich. Solving problems by eating was so typical of her Au pair that it made her smile. Conjuring up food - even in the middle of nothing - was Nellie Gomez's unique super ability after all.

"It was in a bag I found nearby when I woke up." Nellie answered to the girl's questioning expression and rose a similar pack to Amy's. "Whoever brought us here doesn't want us to die of starving."

No matter how much she tried to resist, the smell of the meal forced Amy to eat like a starving hamster: holding the bread with both of her hands, she took fast, big bites, fulling her mouth.

"Um... so-sorry." She apologized shyly when she finished. "So, you got the letter too?"

"The one saying that we are in some kind of game... It's insanity!" Natalie nodded. "But really, can you imagine that someone kidnapped some random Cahills only to watch them fight to death?"

 _And can you imagine anyone surviving a lethal electroshock from the Doomsday Device and then surviving a whole mountain falling on her head?_ Amy rolled her eyes. In the world of Cahills, everything could have been imagined. Everything except for Saladin not assaulting Ian every time he visits them, but yeah, that's a story for another day.

"Anyway," She finally ignored Natalie's statement. "for how long have you been-"

"In this terrible hole?" The Kabra grimaced. "Well... I woke up, then... then..."

"Then she started yelling for her brother, then her mother and woke me up. I grabbed that backpack and ran to the source of the screams. I nearly got a heart attack when I saw that it was her." Nellie explained.

"Well, I wouldn't call that running. You moved like a zombie " Natalie rose an eyebrow. "and actually looked like one too. Not as if the later took me by any surprise..."

"Because - as I previously told you - I've been just woken up. I was in a clearing I've never- " Nellie sighed. "Getting back to the point, I think it was about 6 minutes before we met you. So all in all, we've been here for about... uh... half an hour maybe."

 _So we got conscious at about the same time._ _The one kidnapping us must have thought of everything. The Puppeteer..._ Amy watched a small black bug climb up on the rocks, buried in doubts.

"I wonder who else has been taken..." Natalie said.

"You mean...?"

"To compete... or fight or whatever they want us to do."

"Well, the letter said I was competitor 7." Amy turned to show them the number on her uniform. "So there must be at least 6 more people or if we don't count the two of you, then 4..."

"Bad news..." Nellie turned. A red '12' had been painted onto the back of her jacket.

"12 Cahills..." Amy muttered. "12 or more..."

"More, _sweetheart_ , even more than you can imagine!" Came a fourth voice from the outside. Nellie peeked out of the cave to its direction to face two cold blue eyes.

"Come out and say hello to the Hunters!" Casper Wyoming smiled and rose the crossbow in his hands.

* * *

"Maybe we were wrong about the importance of destroyed fifth tower..." Jonah gazed down from the window of the building. Hidden from the public eye between the four super skyscrapers stood what was left of the wonder of the modern architecture: a disappointingly ugly and neglected, roofless ruin. "You cannot be serious that you wanna climb _50 floors of stairs_ to check it, right? RIGHT? We wouldn't even arrive back in time!"

"Why, Wizard? A clever and strong world-star like you is afraid of a few steps?" Sinead asked, smirking. Then she regained her old graveness. "If we used the elevator, we would be noticed by many people in no time. Somehow we have to get down and you have no better idea, so..."

"Who told you that?" Jonah put on a fake smile. "I always have one."

Sinead let out a growl, then put her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the right. She was waiting reluctantly for his plan.

"Um, let's see..." Jonah scratched his neck. "I think, at first we should... um..."

The girl rose an eyebrow threateningly.

 _Come on, you have to make up something... or get ready for a week of pain in all your muscles... Uh..._ Jonah tensed. _Maybe we should kick out some assistants and take their uniforms... Uh, no, too tricky. Huh, wait isn't that a..._

"Yo, Sinead, watch out!" Jonah bolted to the girl and pushed her to the wall just in time to hide from an agent who made her way into the office near them.  
With his hands gripping her wrists and his glance closed on hers, Sinead had something electric racing down her spine, but decided to tell if it was a good or a bad feeling later. Sometime when she didn't have the suspicion that she was blushing. _Sometime after she kicked the butt of that stupid Wizard for bringing her into such situations._

"Yo, that was... what's the word..." Jonah muttered. His mind suddenly became too dumb to recall even the simplest phrases as if Sinead had a sedative effect on him.

"Close?" She responded as coldly as she could to hide her embarrassment.

"Yeah, that's it." The boy muttered. _Close..._

Slowly, he pulled away from the girl, then looked around and all of a sudden, the idea he had been searching for bumped up.

"Sinead, remember when you said that we couldn't go with the elevator because of the many people using it?" He began to explain. "When I have a concert I have problems with the paparazzi and fans who are waiting for me down at the entrance, so that if I stepped out of the elevator, I would have no chance to escape from them..."

"And the point is?" Sinead rose an eyebrow.

"The point is that in the hotels, I usually have a private elevator, separated from the public one and" Jonah smiled as he saw the girl's eyes lit up. "I'm sure that those busy Ekat leader buddies have some own ways like that to elude too."

"So, you mean that maybe..."

"There _must_ be one in the leader's office!" Jonah nodded, then pulled her back again. "Carefully, there's an agent again!" He whispered.

"An agent, huh?" Sinead stared at him suspiciously. "Never mind. 6 floors up is still better than 50 down..."

"Child's play." Jonah groaned.

.-.-.

Although all the stories under it were all the same: long glass-walled corridors circling around the rooms, the top of the tower was rather one big office with a metal entrance door. On the gate, Sinead found a smart board with buttons, asking for the password.

"Ok..." She leaned closer to the panel and took off the metal box which was covering the electronics to see its inside. Then, she gave the box to Jonah and began to work. "Hmm..."

Jonah watched as the girl grab two cables from the panel and connected them in a way that blue light sparkled right where they met.

"All right, ten more." Sinead told herself under her breath and tried to do the same with two other wires, but her shaking hands dropped them. She wasn't used to the stress of field work.

"It's ok." Jonah calmed her, then getting bored, he peered at the public elevator, evoking the butterflies in his stomach.

 _The counter_ _above the elevator's entrance_ _, which informed him where the cabin was, showed number 20 and it kept going up.  
_

 _Don't worry yo, that person is only on the 20th floor, 36 ones below._ Jonah assured himself. _And why tha hell would someone come up here?_ He peeked at his watch. They still had 20 minutes until the conference ended, so they had enough time.

"What's wrong?" Sinead spotted his anxiety, but Jonah refused to tell her. He was aware of the heavy burden that lay on the girl's shoulders and he didn't want to make it worse for her by nonsense.

"Nothing... Just a bit of pressure..." He answered, but began patrolling around.

Starling nodded and carried on with her task.

"Ya know, it's good that I'm not alone in trouble..." Jonah abruptly said to break the tension in the air, but after he earned a stern stare from the girl, he had to correct himself. "I mean, not that you are in danger with me, but that you are here and you can help a lot with this scientific thingy... like now, if it wasn't for you, I would have failed..."

Sinead had no clue what was the purpose of the guy's sudden comment, but she rewarded it with a pale smile. "I'm just doing my job. But anyway, your spontaneous ideas can come handy too."

"Oh, thanks..." Jonah reacted in such a modest way that - after his vain behaviour at his shows on TV - surprised Sinead very much.

The 2-seconds chat felt good for Jonah, but when he looked up at the elevator again, his heart left out a throb. There was number 40 on the screen. _No... They just can't be comin' here! Why would anyone...?_

His pulse grew the same way the numbers did above the machine. When the counter showed 50, he finally couldn't help asking how many of the cables were left, but Sinead didn't reply. She kept moving the wires monotonously.

"Sinead?" Jonah's gaze was wondering between the elevator and the girl. It was time to inform her about the approaching danger. "There's someone on Floor 50 and coming upwards..."

Sinead let out a desperate groan, but then pulled herself together fast. "We'll make it!"

 _Floor 50..._

 _Floor 51..._

 _...52..._

 _...53..._

"Sinead!" "Shut up, I can do it!"  
Her determined attitude poured bravery into Jonah's heart.

 _...54..._

 _Stop at that floor, stop ya!_ Jonah supported in his mind. _Please!_

 _...55..._

As if it had been obeying his order, the elevator stopped on the 55th store - the one directly under them - the same time the lock on the door of the office gave in and opened. Without hesitation, Sinead and Jonah sneaked in and pushed it shut again, leaving the disassembled panel behind.

.-.-.

Fresh air emerged through the open window. Entering the leader's room, anyone could have started to have doubts about which century they lived in. The office was more than futuristic. The chairs were literary levitating in the air and so did the huge desk in the middle.

 _The AL-47 invention is working._ Sinead thought proudly. Her brother, Ned was one of the few who took part in the secret project which resulted the unique technique. Then, tears rolled into her eyes. _Oh, I wish he's safe..._

It was Jonah who interrupted her thoughts.

"Yo, Sinead, we have to find that secret elevator. The Ekats could arrive any time."

The star rushed to the shelf on the left and started to move the books on it with the hope of finding any secret room.

 _Acids,_ _Atom-physics, Biochemistry, DNA..._ The titles marched into his vision in alphabetical order... except for one book. 'The History of Ekat inventions' stood between a title starting with D and another with E. _Got ya!_ Jonah thought and grabbed it, but nothing happened. _Bro, it's not fair!_ He grumbled and kept picking up the thick lexicons until his arms ached from the heaviness of the thousand pages. _Huh, in the end those Ekat buddies will turn out to be more muscular than the Tomases. This is even worse than weight-lifting!_

Sinead followed his example at the desk. She carefully pulled out the drawers one-by-one, her fingers digging into them crazily. However, all she could find was a bunch of files, pens and a vial of dark liquid, which was radiating in yellow light.

 _What's this? There's nothing written on it..._ Her scientist self broke into the surface. She left out seeking and tilted the flask to examine the fluid. It flowed surprisingly slowly, though it gave the impression of being rather thin. _Huh, strange..._

Sensing that she stopped, Jonah bolted to her. "Found it?"

Sinead was so engaged identifying the chemical, that the question caught her by surprise. She snapped up her head and threw the vial into her pocket.

"No, not yet. And you?" She jabbered.

"Me neither..." Jonah replied and sat down on a chair, paying extra attention not to slip down from the object in the air. "I've checked the shelves, the cupboards and even the walls, but nothing... Where else could it be?"

Sinead shook her head. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe there was no elevator at all. _Maybe they were just wasting their time there while their friends were struggling for life..._

 _Ned... Ted... Guys..._ She walked to the window and peered out of it. Deep under them, the roof of the 5th tower shimmered invitingly. Sinead let out a sigh and turned back to examine the room more carefully than before. And then, she heard Jonah give out a voice that was between the shriek of a baby pig and her own singing tone.

"Yo, not good, ya!" The star cried as the levitating chair under him started to fly around the room with amazing speed. He lost his balance and holding on to the arms of the seat for his dear life, he made his way up to the high ceiling, screaming something that the girl couldn't understand.

"Jonah! Get down here! We don't have time to play!" Sinead shouted to him, bursting out laughing at the scene.

"How to stop thiiiis?" Jonah asked as he flew over the girl, who had to crouch to avoid getting hit.

"There's a red button somewhere near the arms..." She yelled back to him. "Push it and it will deactivate the rockets that..."

 _BANG!_

The chair suddenly stopped, making Jonah collide to the white wall.

"Nah, that was a ride!" The boy massaged his aching forehead. "Don't look at me that way yo, I just tested this gadget for the sake of science! But don't worry, I'll do that never ever again! Ouch!"

Sinead rolled her eyes, then saw a flash near the boy. As Jonah ricocheted back from the wall, they had to realise that it was nothing but a cunning illusion. Sensing the pressure of the impact, the smart screen disabled the white wall picture and became transparent, showing a door on it to a well-designed cabin. The leader's secret elevator.

A creepy smile, that could have made even the Cheshire cat jealous appeared on Jonah's face.

"Told ya scinece-chick, the Wiz is unstoppable!" He smiled and ran to the elevator, nearly bumping to the screen again.

"You know who you can call that!" Sinead fumed, but the funny sight of Jonah nearly colliding to the 'wall' again from the excitement made the unpleasant feeling evaporate in her. "Just be careful, gangster guy!" She was using Jonah's slang, but it wasn't half as effective as she wanted it to be as she chuckled while speaking.

* * *

 **So, that's it for now.  
If you have some spare time, please leave me a review with your opinion/suggestions/predictions (I love reading them lol)! :)  
**

 **Thanks for reading!**


End file.
